Changing of the Guard: An Update from Otherworld

by Loki

Good Day, Terrarians-

We wanted to take a few moments to share some important news with you all in regards to the status of Terraria: Otherworld.

As you all know from when we first announced the game a good while back, Re-Logic’s focus has and always will be on delivering complete and quality game experiences to our fanbase. This means that we will not compromise game quality for speed to market or for any other reasons within our control. Our team had a clear vision for this game – one that we shared with all of you with much shared excitement – and, as much as we hate to say it (and in spite of all of the reforms we tried last year) - the current state of the game is still equal parts far from that vision and well behind schedule.

As a result, we have made the decision to move on from having Engine Software continue development of Terraria: Otherworld. Re-Logic has possession of the game (code, art, sounds, etc.) as it exists today, and we have been examining the array of options available to us to get TOW to a place to where we can confidently deliver on the vision and expectations we all have for this game. After taking a good hard look at everything, we feel that a new and fresh start/direction is the only way Otherworld will ever reach its full potential at this point.

So, where does TOW head from here? The great news is that we already have a dedicated and passionate team ready to pick up the torch and continue the Otherworld journey! Based upon their really impressive work to-date with the Terraria re-write on Console/Mobile, coupled with an amazingly on-point proposal for completing Otherworld (after a thorough review of the game on their end), we have made the decision to bring Pipeworks on board as our new development partner for Terraria: Otherworld!

We know that the "radio silence" and all of the shifting development work aimed at continuing the journey for Terraria: Otherworld has been frustrating for a lot of you. It isn’t a happy or easy call for us either – however, we feel strongly that we owe it to our community and loyal customers to uphold the standards that both you and we expect and to focus on delivering the best possible games that we can for you all to play. The length of the silence was purely driven by "these things take time to occur and then set up" coupled with our desire to have an actual solution/path forward before just sharing the news about Engine.

Come whatever may, quality is simply not something we are willing to compromise on to make a quick buck. It may be painful in the short term, but our sincere hope is that it will pay off for everyone in the long term. Clearly, had we known this would be the scenario way back then, we would have held off on announcing the game until a later time - but such is game development. That said, we are really happy and confident with the new team and new plan - and cannot wait to get back on track.

Some quick details/questions that you may have:

Scope: We will be working with Pipeworks to examine the entire game, from top to bottom, to see how it fits with our high expectations and core vision for this project.

Timing: As we know more about the specifics of timing, etc and/or have fresh spoilers to share, we absolutely will - though expect the "quiet period" to go on just a bit longer while Pipeworks gets ramped up and we actually have new things to show.

Impact on other work: Pipeworks will staff up appropriately so that the Otherworld workload does not have any impact on the timing/quality of the Terraria 1 Console/Mobile/Switch launch

Other Changes: We will be doing a full refresh of all of the Otherworld public-facing locations (Website/Twitter/Facebook/etc.) - including a revamp of the logo itself! As these are completed, we will be sure to let you know so that you can check things out!

Thanks so much to you all for your amazing support of Terraria, Terraria: Otherworld, and our company. It is that support that drives us every day to do amazing things for you and we look forward to sharing more of what is to come very soon.

We are sure that you have a ton of questions, and we will answer what we can – but we will not delve into some areas out of either respect or confidence or the unknown. So we will ask your patience and forgiveness in advance there.